Potential student voters get Harlandale tax message

Harlandale Independent School District officials are actively spreading the word about a property tax proposal that will be on the Nov. 4 ballot, and that includes the very students who would benefit from the additional revenue.

Harlandale High School officials Tuesday morning gathered some 200 students, with the focus being on those who will be eligible to vote in November, for the launch of a statewide push to get more young people to the polls. (Click here to read the story that ran on the front of today’s Metro section.)

Pricipal Rey Madrigal took the opportunity to put in a plug for the proposed 13-cent tax increase, using it as an example of how students’ voices are important in local elections &#151 not just in selecting the nation’s next president. Madrigal explained to students that their campus, which is undergoing renovations, is being improved as a result of voter-approved bonds. He explained that, if the tax proposal passes, the district would get an additional $1.5 million in property tax revenue.

“But more so,” he told students, “the state’s going to put in $6.7 (million) just by us voting. Could you imagine what we’re going to be able to do if the state gives us an additional $6.7?”

But school officials have to be careful in the way they disseminate information about the tax election &#151 state law prohibits school employees from promoting the election while on the clock, a fact district administrators emphasized to district employees, spokesman Pete Barcenez said.

Madrigal said the message to the students was within the rules because he didn’t tell students to vote for or against the tax proposal, and Barcenez agreed. Madrigal said he merely used it as an example of how students can exercise their right to vote at a local level.

“I think I mentioned to them they have an opportunity to have a yes or no vote, anyway they choose to,” Madrigal said after the presentation. “They just have to be active.”